Japan’s DIC Corporation has acquired PCAS Canada from PCAS, a legacy subsidiary of Seqens, for an enterprise value of €82 million, and has renamed it Innovation DIC Chimitroniques. This follows agreement by both boards and the workers’ council.

PCAS Canada has a facility near Montreal producing photoresists for semiconductor photolithography, an area in which DIC expects substantial growth. DIC will combine these with its own syntheis technologies and will continue to invest in the site.

Mitsubishi Chemical company Gelest, which specialises in silicones, organosilanes, metal-organics and acrylate monomers, has agreed a strategic collaboration with Lam Research, a supplier of wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry, and Entegris, the global leader in electronic materials for semiconductors.

Seqens will produce the first volumes of an aromatic diamine monomer by means of flow chemistry in its dedicated workshop at SeqensLab in Porcheville, France (pictured), by the end of 2021. This follows a successful first pilot trial in 2020.

Sumitomo Chemical is to install new lines to expand production capacity for photoresists for advanced semiconductor photolithography processes, including argon fluoride (ArF) immersion and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, at its Osaka Works. These are due to commence operation in 1H fiscal 2022.